Building a time lapse camera for cheap.
I help out with several community events. I have been asked on many occasions, because I am a published Photography and Videography professional if they could easily generate a timelapse video of the event. Most of the time I mention that it's expensive as you need to buy a intervalometer to attach to the camera and a secure and temperature controlled location for the gear.. etc...
but I got to thinking, I bought last year a tiny 3"X3"X1.5" computer that runs linux easily. Why cant I take that computer, a usb webcam and a nema 4 electrical box and make a timelapse recorder? The video does not need to be HD standard NTSC is fine. and I can force most usb webcams int oa manual white-balance mode so it wont look wierd...
Total spent buying everything NEW was less than $350.00 stay tuned later this year for details and example videos.
I found the simplest way of doing this and it's got a better image quality than the BEST webcam you can buy.
Get a Canon S2 digital Camera and it's external power supply. Now head on over to CHDK and follow the instructions to get the "firmware" you need to enable the functions you want. I wrote a simple script for the camera to take a photo every minute for 48 hours to have a great time lapse video of an entire faire weekend. Then buld a box to put it all in with a plexi window and mount it in a safe place. Start the script and let it go.
I got a S2 off ebay for $99.00 and a power supply for $12.95. total cost is less than $200.00
but I got to thinking, I bought last year a tiny 3"X3"X1.5" computer that runs linux easily. Why cant I take that computer, a usb webcam and a nema 4 electrical box and make a timelapse recorder? The video does not need to be HD standard NTSC is fine. and I can force most usb webcams int oa manual white-balance mode so it wont look wierd...
Total spent buying everything NEW was less than $350.00 stay tuned later this year for details and example videos.
I found the simplest way of doing this and it's got a better image quality than the BEST webcam you can buy.
Get a Canon S2 digital Camera and it's external power supply. Now head on over to CHDK and follow the instructions to get the "firmware" you need to enable the functions you want. I wrote a simple script for the camera to take a photo every minute for 48 hours to have a great time lapse video of an entire faire weekend. Then buld a box to put it all in with a plexi window and mount it in a safe place. Start the script and let it go.
I got a S2 off ebay for $99.00 and a power supply for $12.95. total cost is less than $200.00
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